Kitchen floor is getting ft sq ceramic tile.
Entry door on one side and open diningroom opening on the other side of the 9ft 3inch wide room which will leave me with a roughly 4 inch area of a cut tile at one of the openings.
Not being an old hand at ceramic tile I suppose there is a standard approach to dealing with this problem to get the best pleasing view of the tile.
Any suggestions?
Replies
In general, the tile pattern is centered in the room, with equal width cut tiles all around. The pattern is done with either a grout joint on the centerline of the room or the centerline of a tile on the centerline of a room, whichever results in the cut tiles around the edge being more than a half tile in width.
But, few rooms are perfect rectangles. If the openings are on opposite ends of the room and of equal "importance", then most tile setters will still layout the tiles so the width of the cut tiles is the same at each opening. If one opening is of lesser importance, say a laundry room or closet, then often full tiles are used at the primary doorway and the others fall where they may.
There are lots of techniques to make the appearance come out better, which is one reason why tile setting, like all crafts, is somewhat of an art. For one thing, you can't assume that tiles are exactly the nominal dimensions. A 12" x 12" tile might be nearly an inch or so larger or smaller. The only way to do a tile layout is to place rows of them on the floor and check the fit. A common technique is to fudge the grout joints a little bit so each end comes out in a pleasing way. Another point is that on tiles that large, if you had to cut an inch off the tiles on each end you wouldn't notice them as being different.
You can also use borders, adjusting their widths so the field tiles are all whole tiles. A border can be a band of fancy contrasting patterns and colors, or it could be made of the same tiles arranged differently, for instance, the border tiles layed parallel to the walls with field tiles on the diagonal.
If I understand your room situation correctly, I would arrange the tiles to have equal cut widths at each end, since both door openings are very visible. Precisely lay test tiles from the centerline of the room out to each end and check the layout. If there is less than a half tile left at each end, shift the whole pattern exactly one-half tile, then your two end peices will be greater than a half tile in width. It would look bad, as you suspect, to have a full tile at one end and a 4" piece at the other with two important openings opposite each other.
assuming a 12" tile ..
shift the whole layout 6 inches.
That should make for a ??? 7 inch piece ... if I'm picturing this right.
My goal is to avoid any and all pieces less than half of a full tile ...
ie .. 12" tiles ... nothing smaller than 6 inches.
and ... balanced on both .. if not all ..sides.
Keeping in mind we work in the real world . ...
these are thw "goals" I shoot for.
The actual room layout will dictate the end results ...
I'm thrilled when that one last "sliver" row of tiles I can't make go away fall in the least noticable spot.
I't nothing for me to spend a full day just doing layout .. shifting here .. moving there ...
Jeff
Buck Construction Pittsburgh,PA
Artistry in Carpentry
I can barely walk into a tiled bathroom (usually in restaurants) without noticing how the tile was laid out. It is amazing how often it appears that the tile setter just picked a corner and started laying full tiles.
And if you are going to do it that way, not all corners are equally qualifed to be the starting corner, but the best isn't always picked.
Thought process...non existent.
Rich Beckman
Another day, another tool.
In general you center, but hardly anything is "general". First off, even when you "center", you can center on a seam, or in the center of a tile, making the difference between having nearly half or nearly whole tiles at the edges. Plus, few floors are perfect rectangles, so you may be "centered" with respect to a wall but not with respect to the adjacent base cabinets.
The thing you want to avoid most of all is having narrow pieces of tile (less than 1/3 or 1/4 of a tile) in some fairly visible place.
Examine the area. Places where there will be long stretches against a wall in a highly visible area should be planned to come out at at least a half tile and prefereably a nearly full tile (though, for your own sanity, try to avoid cases where you need to trim less than an inch or so from a tile). Places such as under a cabinet toe kick or behind a toilet in a small bathroom aren't nearly as critical.
Walk into the room through all doors. The places you see first (usually the wall directly opposite the door) are the ones you want to look nicest. Eg, for a typical small bathroom (vanity & toilet along one side wall, tub on the back wall), you see where the tile meets the tub first, and, when you sit on your throne, you're condemned to look at the tile along the opposite wall. These are the most critical areas.
The guys who've replied have all been good in their technical suggestions re tile setting and layout for your kitchen project; however, I'd like to share a different response: DON'T DO IT! Don't lay ceramic tile in your kitchen!
Yes, I know how nice ceramic tile or stone, can look and how "well" it can clean up (and break virtually anything you drop on it)...but it gets to be murder on the back of whomever is the primary cook in your residence who has to stand on it for an hour+ at a time when they're preparing a meal. And BTW, area rugs do not, in my experience, alleviate that aspect. Consider wood. More forgiving, aesthetically pleasing, cleans up easily etc etc etc. As the owner of more than a couple of houses in my lifetime that have had ceramic tile in the kitchen, I'm speaking from my own experience and when I complete my current living room project, the ceramic tile in my kitchen (there when house was purchased - and I knew its days were "numbered") is going to the dumpster.
I must agree with mizshredder about tile killing the back, legs, and dishes that touch it. Ours is white, and is impossible to keep clean. Any chips stick out and are eyesores. I can't wait to dig it up and refresh the hardwood that is underneath.Pete Duffy, Handyman
as one that lays tile in kitchens to put food on my kids table ...
can I recommend a nice pair of comfortable shoes?
Or perhaps ...
more dinners out?
JeffBuck Construction Pittsburgh,PA
Artistry in Carpentry
Bill Koustenis
Advanced Automotive Machine
Waldorf Md
Different experience here. We had tile since 1960 and no chips or scratches in it.
Easiest to keep clean and no matter what you are walking on, short of carpet, that is never clean after you use it a little, any other floor will be best walked regularly in some kind of foot protection. Tile or concrete, of course, are the hardest on feet.
There are cheap throw away rugs, or good rubber ones, to protect feet, if necessary, in spots someone will be standing or walking around for long time.
We have used good soled slippers or shoes all these years, only occasionally going barefooted on it.
May not matter when young, but as we age, all that wear and tear will start showing on feet that were abused a lifetime, if we don't use some good sense about reasonable protection for them.
I got it mine and love it. Theres a simple solution..dont drop stuff...
Darkworksite4:
Gancho agarrador izquierdo americano pasado que la bandera antes de usted sale